Happosai
by Nickoten
Summary: A Hikaru No Go spinoff. Please Read & Review!


Happosai couldn't help but smile after the Kappa made his move. He wasn't going to win this game. Ate this rate, Happosai would win by half a moku after he played his hand. Holding the white stone between his middle and index fingers, he set one of the intersections of the 19x19 grid on the goban, a very small raised platform on which "Go," a popular game was played. It originated in China centuries ago and eventually spread to Japan along with writing and religion. The rules were fairly simple, players each took turns laying small, round stones (As in Chess, one player used black pieces, while the other used white) on the intersections of the grid. The stones, although they could not be moved, could be set so that they surrounded the opponent's pieces and "captured" them. Of course, this was easily counted by placing stones in the spots necessary for the opponent to capture. At the end of the game , when all but useless spaces were occupied by the other side, "the counting of territory" began. This is when players straightened their territory ( number of captured spaces) into neat boxes and counted the intersections captured.

The player with the most points, or "moku," won for each intersection in their territory, was the winner. Such simplistic rules made for extremely complex strategy, however, which Happosai possessed in great volume. He glanced at the Kappa, whose face was dripping sweat and showing undeniable signs of nervousness. Finally he stood up, his face showing only anger now. After a few seconds of silence he said,

"Alas, I have nothing...you are the first person to defeat me at Go. You truly are a strong player, as I have heard. However, I cannot let such a blotch remain on my reputation as the greatest Go player in history, and thus I must get rid of it..."

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"Ha! You lose again, Nikkaido!"

"Bah, you just got lucky..."

"I wouldn't call it luck when you've never won a game of Go in your life!" Nikkaido stood up and walked out of the room with a quick "goodbye."

"Nikkaido, you're late for your Go lessons, what took you so long?"

"Oh, I was playing Go with Kyo after school. I lost again though." It didn't seem to surprise his grandfather. Nikkaido had never won a game of Go in the month since he started playing.

"Ah well, you can't expect to win all your games. Anyway, if you want, I could cancel today's lesson, as I have something that might interest you..." Nikkaido's grandfather disappeared into a room and returned with a book in his hands.

"I thought this might be of interest to you," he said, holding the book toward Nikkaido. "It's a copy of the diary of Happosai Shusaku, the man said to be the greatest Go player in history. He, too, had trouble playing Go when he was a child." Nikkaido flipped through the pages. It seemed like the book that would put him to sleep after a while, but he knew he had to act grateful, and so he did.

For the next few days, Nikkaido thought he could feel the presence of someone following him wherever he went, even to the bathroom. In fact he began seeing shadows, hearing footsteps, and feeling something breathing on him from behind, though whenever he turned around he would see nothing but air. This and the upcoming amateur's Go tournament at school was enough to drive the diary, and Happosai's name, for that matter, out of his mind.

The amateur tournament was open to all people, not only students, so it was a magnet to all good amateur Go players in the area. Nikkaido had bought his own Goban and began replaying older games with himself, learning his mistakes and learning to correct them the next time. It was during this session of deep concentration one night that he heard a voice.

He set up a Go problem from a magazine on his Goban and began trying different methods of solving it. Unfortunately, none of those worked, and he was just about to give up and go to sleep when he heard a low, snake-like voice hiss, "B-14."

He was about to check whether this answer was correct, when he realized just what had happened and turned around sharply saying, "Who's there?" Nikkaido saw what he didn't expect, the voice's owner. After a glance he quickly identified it as a Kappa, a sea demon from fairytales, in which it lived in lakes and ponds, grabbing and drowning anyone who dared to cross its aquatic abode. It had smooth green skin, with webbed hands and feet, and a black shell on its back. It was dressed in red robes torn and worn, apparently after being worn everyday for centuries. Hanging from it belt was a bokken, a wooden sword.

"W-Who are y-you...?!" was all that Nikkaido could manage.

"I'm not human, nor am I alive, if that's what you mean." it replied.

"I am a wandering spirit, a ghost, to be blunt. Apparently, I'm not worthy to be reborn or go to some sort of afterlife or anything like that, so I have been wandering the world, looking for a chance to escape this misery, whatever that chance may be. Actually, I have long since given up on finding this chance, and have been staying with players of Go such as yourself. I am rather fond of the game, you see. Perhaps that was what led me here..."

Nikkaido was speechless. This had all occurred so fast and caught him off guard, he probably could have mistaken it for a dream. He could hear footsteps from outside his door, probably his mother coming to tell him to go to bed. At this point he wasn't sure whether he should hide the "visitor" or not. He didn't make up his mind fast enough, however, and his mother came walking through the door.

She turned and faced him, seeming not to notice the Kappa at all.

"Nikkaido, you've been staying up like this every night for the past week! If I catch you up like this again, you won't be going to that Go tournament!"

He couldn't believe this. How could she just come in and yell at him and not even notice the 7 foot tall demon whom she happened to be standing next to this very moment?

"Mom, can't you see it? Look it! It's a Kappa!" he said, pointing toward the monster, who's head was now turned toward her. She barely turned her head, probably convinced more than ever that this boy wasn't getting enough sleep.

"Nikkaido, do not joke with me. I am not in a good mood right now."

"But there's a Kappa right next to you!"

His mother sighed and walked out of the room. He wouldn't be surprised if she called a psychiatrist the next morning. The kappa turned once more toward Nikkaido.

"Your name is Nikkaido, correct? I am sorry to have frightened you like that. Do not fear me, as I might be able to help you. You wish to be a master of Go, right? I can teach you the strategy needed to win at that tournament at your school." 

"So, you're the one who was following me around like that!"

"That is correct. Only players of Go will I allow to see me, and even then, only one at a time."

"So, you're a friend, right?"

"Only if you allow me to be one."

"Well, okay. I still have questions for you, like your name, for example, but I have to get to bed now."

"I understand. And as for my name...you can call me...Happosai."

The next day Nikkaido seemed to be a bit more confident while he played Go at the Go club. He would hopefully soon have what he hoped to be his first victory. During the match, Happosai instructed Nikkaido on what hands to play and the reasoning behind them. Eventually Nikkaido could figure out the reason himself and play his own hands about halfway through the game. It probably looked to his opponent, Kyo, that his opponent started off with extremely tough and unforgiving hands, and suddenly shifted to a lesser experienced person, though still worthy enough to make the match a challenge. Nikkaido lost by 2 moku, but he was still quite content as he had never even manage to capture a single stone from Kyo, unless he was being taught (Which somehow never helped). However this loss encouraged him to grow even more powerful an opponent, playing Go with Happosai (Which took some getting used to, as Happosai obviously could not place the stones and Nikkaido ended up having to play both their hands), solving Go problems, and playing regularly with Kyo and the other members. Finally the day of the tournament arrived, and Nikkaido still felt incredibly unprepared, as he only managed to win 4 out of the seven games he played with other students, and needed help with quite a few of his Go problems. It was a single elimination tournament, so one loss would spell a failure for him. His first game was against Tsutsui Ermoru, a fellow member of the Go club. Tsutsui played quite oddly, as he had a Go book with him that he read whenever it wasn't his own turn. This, as Nikkaido soon found out, was not against the rules. They played a few hands each, and Nikkaido realized something rather interesting: Tsutsui put the book right in front of his face whenever he finished playing his hand, so he had no clue what his opponent was doing, though of course if Nikkaido tried to cheat, he would be caught by a spectator and reported. However, there was another, simpler way to win, if his opponent would fall for such a thing. Nikkaido took a black stone from his container, and tapped it's flat end on the side of the goban. Tsutsui put his book down, picked up a stone, and set it on the goban. This obviously meant a loss for Tsutsui, as you can only place one stone per turn, (Which Nikkaido happily pointed out) and such a breach of the rules meant disqualification. 

Thus gave Nikkaido Shindo his first victory of an official Go game. Next up was someone he didn't now, a boy by the name of Crisu Wakara. This match wasn't so easy. His opponent was an incredibly fast thinker, and placed devastating hands every time. This didn't mean, however, that Nikkaido had no defense against them, as he played some hands he didn't know he could think of, giving him a low early lead. However, the longer the game went on, the better Crisu played, and the more times Nikkaido succumbed to his skill. Soon the game got to a point where every move Nikkaido made brought him closer to a loss, which he soon got.

Nikkaido only stayed long enough after his game to see the winner, who was, no surprise here, Crisu Wakara. 

That night, feeling a bit bored, Nikkaido decided to read a few pages of the diary. He now remembered (After looking at the front cover) that the book's author was a person by the name of Happosai Shusaku. He skipped to the last few pages and read something quite disturbing.

"Today I was playing with some foolish Kappa that though he could beat me, and when the idiot lost, he stood up and said that he would remove the 'blotch on his reputation' by playing a better game the next time we met, and making this match insignificant. What an annoyance, and coming from some stupid little overgrown turtle no less! I decided to shut him up by telling him just how horrible and sloppy he played, pointing out every mistake he made on the board. But then the fool tried to point out every mistake I made too, though I corrected him quickly by giving my reasoning of the hands, which were of course intelligent and well thought out. And then to make sure he didn't do something so stupid again, I slapped him for it! And you know what the little coward did? He dug his nails in my arm, not even that deep, hardly hurting me at all! And then, you know what he said? He said I had but a day to live, unless I forgave him for such an insult! An insult! Ha! He should be honored to have been touched by me, much less to touch me! And then there's that stupid threat he gave me, as if I would believe in such a thing! Apparently, there are less intelligent people in this world than I thought..."

Nikkaido hadn't known A great Go player like Happosai Shindo could have been such an arrogant person, but what shocked him the most was the fact that he died the very next day, June 12th, which he saw in the cover slip. He put the book down, awoke Happosai, who was resting near the foot of his bed, and told him about the article.

"Ah, so you know now, it was a terrible deed, I know.." he said softly.

"It was a bit extreme, but he insulted you quite a bit. I can understand why you did that," Nikkaido replied quickly. "However, there is something I don't understand. Why did you lie to me about your name? After all, Happosai isn't your real name, is it?

"No. Though it was not recorded in history, the villagers believed what he told them, though he told half the truth and didn't accept it himself. After his death, they hunted me down and tortured me until I confessed to assaulting and cursing him, though I kept my pride and endured it. I lived, but just barely. I was able to escape the village but died the next day as I still has many open wounds and was losing blood at a fast rate. I think now I know why I was to remain here even after death. It was to spread the truth to all Go players and let them realize not just what is recorded in history, but why it was recorded, and what truths were left out."

"So, you'll be leaving now, right?"

"I'm sorry to say, but yes. I will take leave of your mind now."

Before Nikkaido could say goodbye, Happosai left, but not without the revelation 

of his real name; "Mitani Touya."


End file.
